New Big Wall Established on Famed Latok II
Several difficult and remote alpine routes have been established this month
Miquel Mas and Marc Subirana have made the first ascent of a 31-pitch climb up a feature on Latok II, located in the Karakoram, known as Latok Thumb. Latok II was the first of the four Latok peaks to be climbed with the first ascent being in August 1977 by Italians Renato Valentini, Ezio Alimonta and Toni Mase up the south ridge.
Mas and Subirana’s new climb follows 1,100 metres of steep granite at a grade of M5 7a A2+ and ends on the summit of Latok Thumb at around 6,400 metres. This is likely the first ascent of the peak from the southwest. Mas and Subirana started the route, but had to return this year to finish the final six pitches.
There have been other new routes established in remote alpine areas this month. In Kazakhstan, Kirill Belotserkovskiy, Traudl We and Geri Mairhofer explored an area beyond the Kyzylsay Valley near the Toguzak Glacier. After travelling more than 50 kilometres on foot, they made the first ascents of the 400-metre north face of the 4,398-metre Molodaya Gvardiya at AI1; and the 300-metre north face of the 4,510-metre Muryntau at AI1.
And last week, Alexey Suharev, Ratmir Mukhametzyanov and Alexandr Parfenov established a new big wall route up Military Topographers Peak in Central Tien Shan, China. They spent six days establishing the climb up the 6,873-metre mountain.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
